Men’s tennis has tough weekend at the USTA/ITA Carolina Regionals

The men’s tennis team had a tough weekend at the UNC’s. Seniors Mickael Trintignac (Le Cannet, France) and Tom Delme (Hamoir, Belgium) as well as sophomore transfers Brice Allanic (Colombes, France) and Crescente Lesser (Santiago, Chile) were there to represent the school against the formidable opponents of UNC, Davidson, USC, Campbell, Duke and Furman.

Though Allanic fell in back to back 6-4 sets against USC’s Kyle Koch, and Lesser’s 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 loss to Jacob Behal of Furman kept them out of the 64 Round, Delme and Trintignac were able to power through. The former easily defeated Campbell’s Adrien Rossignon with a 6-3, 6-2 win, while the later neatly did away with his opponent Joe Schaefer of Davidson with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 match, pushing them both forward into the next round.

The two players made strong stands on Saturday, but it ultimately proved not enough. Tritignac was faced with UNC player Oystein Steiro, but ultimataley lost with back to back 6-3 sets. Delme had a hard battle as well as he played 38th-ranked player in the nation Brennan Boyajian of UNC. Though Delme won the first set 4-6, he suffered a loss with two 6-4 sets dealt by Boyajian.

Head Coach Jay Bruner was able to see the learning experience in the match rather than focus on the losses.
“Overall, this tournament was a good experience for our new players (sophomore transfers Brice Allanic and Crescente Lesser). We learned some things we need to keep working on for the rest of the fall and fortunately, we have the second half of our fall schedule still to go.” Bruner said. “Mickael Trintignac and Tom Delme both had strong wins in their first rounds and competed well against opponents from UNC in the next round. Tom had a super match with the No. 2 seed and 38th-ranked player in the nation winning the first set and having chances in the second and third sets. He has been working hard and was able to see the level he can compete with.”

The Cougars play this weekend at home as they host the College of Charleston Invitational at Patriots Point. Follow the men’s tennis team, as well as the rest of College of Charleston athletics, at www.cisternyard.com/sports and get live updates from @GeorgeStSports on Twitter.